RUNNERS MAKING IT TOUGH ON GRANDAL

Given his highly unrookie-like first couple weeks as a major league hitter — including a mighty impressive first start — there’s a lot more focus on the offensive boost Yasmani Grandal has provided the Padres than the struggles of a rookie catcher who’s still brand new to the majors.

In the latter regard, Grandal is learning some fast and hard lessons.

Seventeen times in his first 14 games — a dozen of them starts behind the plate — base runners have tried to steal on Grandal. All 17 times, they were successful. The only runner thrown out by Grandal was Houston’s Chris Johnson, who broke on a pitch in the dirt the catcher had blocked Monday night, a play technically not qualifying as a caught stealing.

“I thought it was gonna be worse, to tell you the truth,” said Grandal, referring to catching at the major-league level in general. “The only thing that has been challenging so far is throwing guys out, but I’m going to start throwing them out at some point. You’ve got guys here who know how to steal, know when to steal, but it’s going to come for me with time.”

While saying that Grandal does need to “clean up” the mechanics of his catch-and-throw technique, manager Bud Black also noted that Grandal is a 2010 draftee who’s made a rapid ascent to the majors at perhaps its most difficult fielding position.

At the same time, the catcher is only part of the defense against the running game. After just two weeks in the majors — and one training camp with the Padres — Grandal is still in the early stages of developing a sense of rhythm and timing with his pitchers. Minor-league pitchers usually are not nearly so adept at — or all that interested in — using the slide step to thwart the opponents’ running game.

The irony here is that when Grandal was called up from Tucson on June 30 — and proceeded to hit homers from both sides of the plate for his first two major league hits — veteran catcher Nick Hundley was being sent down to work on his hitting. Hundley was batting just .166, but he’d become one of baseball’s tougher catchers to run on.

Second overall among major league catchers a year ago, Hundley nailed 32 runners for a 36 percent success rate, and he still ranks second this season (behind Philadelphia’s Carlos Ruiz) with 25 runners caught trying to steal.

Hundley, who was batting .200 after 10 games with Triple-A Tucson, went on the seven-day disabled list Wednesday with a strained left hamstring.

Quentin in, Maybin out of lineup

After missing two starts with a sore knee, left fielder Carlos Quentin was back in the lineup Wednesday. However, center fielder Cameron Maybin was a last-minute scratch with soreness in his right wrist.

“Cam’s been bothered by the wrist off and on this year,” said Black. “Before the game, he was taking (batting practice) in the cage and it was a little bit sore, so we decided to be a little cautious with him. We’ll see how it is (today).”

Sharing notes, scars

By the end of this injury-plagued season, pitchers on the Padres staff could hold an interesting (and depressing) summit talk to compare all their injuries and surgical scars of 2012.

The latest news on the health front is right-handed starter Joe Wieland’s decision to have Tommy John surgery on his pitching arm, a process that Cory Luebke went through in May.

“I’ve just told him the first five, six weeks after, be patient,” said Luebke. “You’re always trying to do stuff too early. It’s the way we’re motored. We’re not used to taking five weeks, coming in for an hour (of treatment) just trying to get mobility back. There’s not a lot you can do.

“Once you get to that four- to six-week range, though, it’s unbelievable. Every day, I felt better and better and better. We’re out eight weeks now and there are days I don’t even notice it.”

Wieland, who hasn’t pitched a game since May 6, was placed on the disabled list two days later with what was described as an elbow strain. While rehabbing that, Wieland said he felt like he’d destroyed the elbow with a pitch during a bullpen session, but took his time to decide on reconstruction surgery.

“The most interesting part was the MRI, which wasn’t what we expected,” said Wieland. “When I felt the elbow pop, I thought it was done. The trainers thought it was done. Everybody thought it was done, blown. When the MRI came back, it didn’t show a (major) tear. That was confusing. Honestly, that’s why the decision took a little longer. Because it wasn’t so cut and dried.”

Time change

The starting time of the Padres’ home game against the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 18 has been changed to 5:35 p.m., pushed back from its originally scheduled time of 1:05 p.m. The game will not be televised nationally as planned, but will be shown on Fox Sports San Diego.